Dinobot's War
by Dinobot Fan
Summary: Dinobot's perspective on the Beast Wars, episode by episode.


**Dinobot's War**

_Dinobot's perspective on the Beast Wars, episode-by-episode, stream of consciousness style._

**Chapter 1**

**Beast Wars Part 1**

He'd hit the dirt, several klicks from the remains of the _Darkside_, with enough force to send up a veritable tsunami of gravel and small stones and to do some real damage to his servos, but dazed though he was he'd still had the presence of mind to transform to beast mode because if he shorted out due to Energon overload he'd end up in stasis lock, and then he'd be well and truly slagged.

He'd lain, panting, on the ground for a while, assessing the damage - Scorponok's missile had dented but not pierced his torso plate and he didn't need a repair chamber, but internal repairs were going to take a few megacycles - but not for long, because Megatron was just idiot enough to waste time sending the flyers after him when eliminating the Maximals should be the first priority.

Remembering Megatron's blunder still made his optics burn green with rage, _victors do not spurn opportunity_, and that incompetent fool Megatron had been presented with the opportunity to finish the _Axalon_ on a plate, Megatron had had the chance to blast the _Axalon_ into pieces while the shields were down but, no, he had to play with his food – and now the _Darkside_ will never fly again, thanks to the Maximals' plasma cannons. The Transwarp drive is still functional, but apart from the damage done when the ship smashed into the lava beds, she'd lost a stabilising fin on the way down, and she'll never fly again.

As soon as his beast form had recovered enough to move, he'd scrambled to his feet and melted into the scrub, but he'd kept an optic cocked towards the sky while he put some distance between himself and the wreck of the _Darkside_ - to tell the truth, he didn't know what in the Pit he was going to do, but crawling back to the wrecked Predacon ship and kissing Megatron's skid-plate wasn't part of the agenda - and he'd taken the time to get used to his new organic form, to explore its strengths and to discover its limitations. Not that he was displeased with the results of his DNA scan because the saurian was fast, going by the two powerful legs, and heavily-armed, too - the wicked-looking talon, permanently raised off the ground in the attack position, looked capable of piercing even Megatron's thick hide in beast mode; the long jaws were full of sharp teeth; the chest was broad and the forearms well muscled, ending in ripping claws that were also surprisingly dexterous. Visuals were excellent, signifying that the raptor was a sight hunter active in daylight - the blazing sun felt _good_ - but cold nights might be a problem because the beast form didn't seem to have any internal temperature regulation beyond that conferred by its sheer mass. And the long tail that balanced the muscular neck and heavy head bothered him a little, it seemed to have a life of its own because it lashed furiously, uncontrollably, whenever he thought of Megatron.

Megatron! Megatron had promised undying glory in the Predacon cause; he'd gone through the depths of the very Pit to snatch the Golden Disk because Megatron had promised that it would lead them to a planet rich in stable Energon cubes, enough Energon to end the Pax Cybertronia and re-start the Galactic Conquest - but this world cannot be Earth, not with two moons in the sky! And while the planet was riddled with Energon, it was raw stuff, useless without refinement, and they couldn't stay in robot mode for more than a few cycles without shorting out.

And now there will be no glory, he's just another Predacon criminal and as soon as Cybertron finds Optimus Primal – because the Maximal Elders _will_ come looking for the _Axalon_ - he'll be facing a Maximal prison. The Maximals probably won't recycle him – he wasn't the ringleader of the theft of their precious relic - and Maximals don't like to recycle, they're always spouting slag like _when a Spark is extinguished the universe weeps_. No, they'll do something worse to him; they'll deprive him of his energy weapons and put him on quarter-rations of Energon to keep him weak and docile - and that was an unbearable thought, he couldn't help but snarl and growl, and by the Pit he'd see Megatron scrapped before he ended up in a Maximal cage!

Oh, how he hated Megatron, and how he despised him, too! Of course he knew that there was more to being a leader than simple courage, of course he knew that leadership requires cleverness and cunning, but for a Predacon there can be only two responses to the age-old formal challenge, _I challenge you to battle, the winner shall lead the Predacons – and the loser shall be destroyed! _For a Predacon, there can only be two choices when the chain of command is openly questioned: submission, or combat. But Megatron had broken the Predacon code, he'd set that mindless drone Scorponok on his challenger, and he, Dinobot, had been taken by surprise and he'd been ingloriously bested.

He'd shaken with impotent fury at the memory of his humiliation, because he'd never serve under Megatron's leadership again, it was war now between them, it was _personal_, but how was he ever going to get close enough to Megatron to reduce him to a pile of hot burning slag when it was five against one?

He'd brooded and snarled at the impossibility of ever exacting revenge for Megatron's treachery, and then he'd become aware of an uncomfortable, unfamiliar sensation - it had taken him a while to realise that he was _hungry_. In robot mode, he didn't need fuel, the raw Energon that permeated this planet was almost too much of a good thing after the _Darkside's _carefully rationed Energon supplies, but his beast form needed to eat, and meat would speed up the internal repairs.

So he'd looked about for prey, seen a herd of gazelles and given chase - and in this form he was fast, with a top speed of 60, 65 klicks, but the gazelles were faster. He'd clocked them at over 100 klicks, so whatever hunted them was _really_ fast – and after a few furious and fruitless chases he'd concluded that he'd catch a healthy adult gazelle only in his dreams.

He'd contemplated transforming to robot mode and taking down one of the creatures with his eye beams, but to kill in such a way, even for food, would lack honour – and so he'd been absolutely ravenous by the time he'd had the good fortune to bring down some small, slow-moving animal, and he'd lost himself completely in his hunger, gulping down gobbets of flesh and splattering himself with the red liquid that serves as mech fluid for organic forms. While the food had taken the edge off his appetite, he was still unsatisfied, but he'd known that hunting alone he'd be lucky to catch something big enough to make a decent meal - anything small enough for him to tackle on his own was likely to be nimble enough to get away, and anything slow enough for him to catch was likely to be heavily armoured, like the rhinos he'd seen in the distance. He'd realised then that raptors need to hunt in a pack to bring down larger, faster prey - and to bring down Megatron he needed a pack, too, because it was war with Megatron and for a war you need an army.

Then he'd turned to look at the point on the horizon that marked where the _Axalon_ had fallen - the _Darkside's_ data files on the _Axalon _were sketchy and he knew only that it was a space exploration vessel, not a warship, and the commander's name was Optimus Primal, but the Maximals had shown surprising spirit in the battle and perhaps under the right leadership they could be moulded into a fighting force - and then he'd changed his activation code to _Maximize_, because Megatron had betrayed the Predacon code of honour and was unworthy to lead, and the miserable wretches who were prepared to follow such a leader were equally beneath contempt.

So now he's blocking the narrow strip of land that leads back to the Maximal command centre and warily eying the four approaching Maximals: a massive rhinoceros, a speedy-looking spotted cat, a shifty-looking rodent, and a huge silverback gorilla.

Even with his sensors on full, he can't hear what they say when they realise what he is, but amazingly they haven't transformed even though they must know that he is a Predacon - _was_ a Predacon - because he's left the Predacons forever, to join the Maximals as their leader, or to die in the attempt.

He announces his name and his intentions; for a moment he's not quite sure whether it's the rhino or the ape which is Optimus Primal's beast mode, but it is the gorilla who steps forward, and now he knows to whom to throw down the power-gauntlet, _I hereby challenge you, Optimus Primal, to one-on-one battle. The winner shall lead the Maximals - and the loser shall be destroyed!_

His tail is lashing with excitement as he waits for the gorilla to respond because this is it, either the Maximals will attack him in force and he's completely exposed to ranged weapons out here on this narrow bridge across the void, or Optimus Primal will accept his challenge. Either way, there's going to be fighting, and that's just fine because Dinobot is a warrior, a war machine - and battle is what he was built for._  
_


End file.
